Castaways by Brian Keene Page B

him with dread. The Sons of the Constitution was a militant group dedicated to bringing about a second American revolution and overthrowing the current political system through a campaign of bombings, assassinations, and other terrorist acts. They'd been active in the '90s and had since slipped from the public radar, replaced with the more current specter of Islamic radicals and other religious fanatics. Their most notorious acts were the bombing of the FBI's database and crime lab buildings in Quantico, and the assassination of several political and corporate figures.
    "For too long now," Matthew continued, "you have sat back and done nothing while our country has been taken over by corporations and special interest groups. You've cheered for the Republicans and Democrats like they were your favorite football team, blindly echoing their talking points without daring to think for yourself, swallowing whatever propaganda the corporate-funded media groups fed you.
    Our reporters no longer report the news. They simply parrot whatever the government tells them. The war, our economy, our social mores—all of these are reported on as a series of press releases, read to us by empty-headed, good-looking news readers.
    "Our young men and women are dying in far-off lands. Our jobs are going overseas. Our country is being overrun by foreigners who don't respect our culture or language or ideals. Our courts are a joke. Our children are illiterate. Our economy is in the gutter, and while most of us work two or three shit jobs to feed our families, a select and powerful few carve this country up a little bit more among themselves, and get rich from our sorrow.
    "Political correctness is the new racism. Our culture and beliefs are under attack. A war has been waged against them for decades now. It was slow and insidious, and you did not care because you were taught not to. You were kept silent—fat and pacified—on a diet of movies and television and pop music. Instead of showing you footage from Iraq or our inner city neighborhoods, the media shows you pop starlets and celebrity marriages. Instead of voting in our elections, you vote for reality-show contestants. You can't name the Bill of Rights, but you can name all of the members of the latest boy band. You demonize us for our tactics, but then allow your children to idolize musicians who glamorize drug dealing and murder and promiscuity. You watch the Grammy Awards and the Oscars and the Golden Globes but don't take an interest in your government."
    Matthew paused and took a deep breath. Jesse
    opened his eyes. The pressure on his neck increased slightly and the point sank deeper, almost piercing the flesh. When Matthew spoke again, his voice was louder, his pace more frantic.
    "Wake up, America! The world thinks you are a joke. God has abandoned you, and who can blame him. You are spoon-fed daily government-approved sound bites from CNN and Fox News, and think yourself informed, but you are not. The media is nothing but their mouthpiece.
    "Your rights are being eradicated daily by the FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, Wall Street, the oil companies, and Hollywood—and you don't care. You can no longer be bothered to get out of your chair and run out into the street and protest. Where is that radical spirit this country was founded on? Where is that urgency for change that defined a generation in the sixties? Why are you so content to allow your civil rights to be trampled on? Why do you let them treat your children and your elders this way? Are you really so jaded that you no longer mind your bondage? Why do you allow them to strip you of your inalienable human rights? Where is your anger? Where is your outrage? Why have you not marched on Washington with torches and pitchforks and dragged these criminals out into the street? Why have you not hanged them for their crimes?
    "It's because you're asleep. Indifferent. Depressed. You swallow your